Updated 9:39 am, Friday, October 26, 2012

Photo: Megan Farmer, The Chronicle

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Candidates London Breed (left) and John Rizzo (right) are seen speaking at the candidates debate for District Five supervisor at the Park Branch Library on Wednesday, August 8, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif.

Candidates London Breed (left) and John Rizzo (right) are seen speaking at the candidates debate for District Five supervisor at the Park Branch Library on Wednesday, August 8, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif.

CITY ISSUES (Please answer as succinctly as possible — no more than 100 words per question)

1. What skills, background or special abilities would you bring to the Board of Supervisors?

I have a history in both the public and non-profit sector of bringing different groups of people together to achieve common goals, which is the best way to solve almost any issue here in San Francisco. I am independent of the special interest groups that have come to dominate much of City politics, both in the District and at City Hall.

But my background is maybe my most important qualification: I was born and raised in this district, unlike my opponents. Our communities helped raise me, and I've spent my life learning to understand their needs and giving back.

We need housing that accommodates residents of every income level, and quality jobs that provide a living wage. This is especially true if we want San Francisco to be the place to raise our children and anchor our families. We also need schools known for preparing students for success, the lack of which is a huge factor in many families' decision to move out of the City.

I would love to discuss my ideas for job training programs, affordable housing solutions, and re-imagining our public education, when I have more room to do so.

3. What does the city need to do about homelessness? What's working that you favor? What's not being done?

I am the only candidate in this race who supported Sit/Lie, after talking to innumerable D5 residents who told me they don't feel safe in the Haight.But the City can't forget our commitment to our homeless and mentally ill residents. I'm a big supporter of what Bevan Dufty is doing with HOPE (Housing Opportunity, Partnerships and Engagement), and we can do even more. We should put renewed emphasis on person-to-person case management, age-appropriate City services, and fully funding our mental health treatment programs, to help address the problem of chronic homelessness among the mentally ill and those with addictions.

4. Do you favor Mayor Lee's focus and strategies on attracting tech jobs?

To some extent. But we can do more, both to attract tech jobs and to focus on other types of jobs. People are forgetting that small businesses provide a majority of jobs across the entire City.To bring more and better jobs to District 5, I will create a one-stop shop for business permits and inspections. Making things simpler and less expensive will help business owners to hire more people from the community.This is no small thing. I'm talking about an entirely re-designed process that businesses go through, in which City government is a partner instead of a roadblock.

5. Do you support the city's Transit First policies that emphasize public transit over private vehicles? Is a wider bike lane system working? Do plans to expand parking meter locations make sense? Is the surge in car-sharing services a good idea?

There's no mode of transportation we should discourage or disfavor in order to boost others. This isn't a zero-sum game; space is such a limited commodity in San Francisco that we need to use what little we have as efficiently as possible. That means finding room on the road for any mode of transportation San Franciscans choose to employ.In practice, that means car-sharing services and bike lanes should be part of the greater plan, to the extent that they make commuting more efficient and get citizens where they need to go.

6. Do you favor a proposed Warriors arena on Piers 30-32?

I can't fully answer without knowing the details of the proposed development and how it will impact the area and the City financially, socially, and environmentally.But I really hope that the parties can come up with a development plan that would be beneficial in those areas. I get excited thinking of the revenues the stadium would bring to San Francisco, the jobs it would move back into the City, the boost to business and night-life on the mid-waterfront.

7. Has the city struck a fair balance between tenant and landlord rights? If not, what changes would you advocate?

The balance is not good right now, and the proof is in skyrocketing rents and the shortage of affordable housing. We should expand rent control to cover buildings built after 1979, and the City should also partner with developers so that new contracts contain requirements for a certain percentage of any new units constructed in San Francisco to be affordable, rent-controlled, or both.Middle-income citizens are also finding it impossible to buy in San Francisco. It's not good for the City, and we need home ownership programs to complement any changes in our landlord/tenant laws.

8. What additional steps, if any, should the city take to reduce its unfunded liability for retiree health coverage?

I wholeheartedly supported Measure C's consensus pension reform plan in 2011, and opposed Measure D, with I thought was too severe, indeed downright punitive.Measure C can be our guide: working together to make tough, sensible choices during difficult budget circumstances. Not everyone liked the idea of pension reform, but San Franciscans got behind the idea of a collaborative process to finding the tough answers. Our solutions shouldn't be punitive, but they should put the City on better financial footing.

9. Should Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi be removed from office?

I apologize, but I'll have to tell you what I've told everyone else: I don't believe it's appropriate for any candidate for this seat to comment publicly on this matter during the campaign.

10. Do you favor allowing apartments of 150 square feet as a low-cost housing option?

There are better options. Every San Franciscan deserves an affordable, dignified and secure place to call home.

In five years on the Redevelopment Agency Commission, I voted to approve 10,000 new housing units at Hunters Point Shipyard, and voted for projects from market rate home ownership to supportive housing for the formerly homeless. I also supported the building of below market rate housing in Mission Bay, the Western Addition, South of Market and the Tenderloin.

11. Should public nudity be banned in San Francisco?

Not categorically. San Francisco has always had to balance the freedom of expression with the realities of cosmopolitan life, and it's extraordinary that we've done so as well as we have.We can look at forbidding nudity near schools, in public parks, plazas, and other spaces. I trust law enforcement to work with our communities to find other solutions. But an outright ban on nudity would only be aimed at targeting specific segments of our culture that make up part of the City's fabric. We can continue to be the City we know and love without an outright ban.

12. Do you favor the ranked choice system of electing officeholders or a return to the top two finishers competing in a runoff?

I supported ranked choice voting originally. The voters of San Francisco chose to adopt ranked choice voting, and after a few years, it is for the voters to decide whether they want to keep it or not. It is true that there are people who believe they have seen enough to determine that they want to keep ranked choice voting, and people who think they've seen enough to go back to runoffs. But the voters haven't weighed in on whether they've seen enough yet, and I await their doing so.

13. Do you support with the current system of 11 district supervisors? If not, what changes would you advocate such as changing the number of supervisors and/or at-large seats?

I support having 11 district Supervisors. During the at-large era, Supervisors spent less time connecting with the residents of San Francisco's neighborhoods, with neighborhood groups, anyone whose issues, for whatever reason, were more pronounced in certain parts of the City than others.

What matters is quality representation, not quantity. You should know your Supervisor from your own neighborhood, and I know the neighborhoods of D5 like no other candidate in this race because I grew up here. The current Board and committee structure is sufficient to handle the City's business – if, that is, we put the right people in charge.

14. Do you have a priority issue that is not in this questionnaire?

My three biggest priorities in this campaign are jobs, public safety, and helping small businesses. I am running to re-connect City government with the people it is supposed to serve. I wouldn't be writing this if I weren't fed up watching disengaged politicians forget to represent their constituents.

My political base is the people of District 5, the people I went to kindergarten with, roller-skated the Wiggle with, laughed and cried with. It amazes me how little the communities I cherish seem to matter to some of the people running this City, and even to some of my fellow candidates.